Description

‘As much a history of the deeply crooked culture of Italian politics as it is a vivid biography of one man’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Fascinating’ SPECTATOR
‘Vivid and disturbing but utterly compelling’ DAILY MAIL

Corruption, sleaze and violence were woven into the fabric of twentieth-century Sicilian life, as the Mafia rose to dominance. This is the story of one man who stood in opposition.

In 1986, the largest Mafia trial in Italy’s history took place in Sicily: 471 men and 4 women took the stand, accused of horrific crimes. Sitting in the gallery was Leonardo Sciascia. One of the greatest European writers of the twentieth century, he had published the first Mafia novel, The Day of the Owl, in 1961, and was widely seen by Italians as a true moral figure in a country where corruption had seeped into every corner of public and private life.

Sciascia had come of age as the Mafia grew to prominence across Sicily. Witnessing the scale of corruption and violence, Sciascia predicted it would soon spread north, and he was right: by the 1980s, the Mafia had infiltrated every level of Italian politics and grown into an international, highly successful business.

In A Sicilian Man, prize-winning historian and biographer Caroline Moorehead charts Sciascia’s life against the rise of the Mafia, and lays out the thrilling and devastating struggle that ensued for Italy’s soul.

‘Magnificent and deeply affecting’ PHILIP HENSHER

‘Vivid and knowledgeable… This feels like the book [Moorehead] was destined to write’ LUCY HUGHES-HALLETT

Publisher Review

The best non-fiction [book] I read this year… [it] fulfils its daunting task of giving a proper account of this great Sicilian writer, you will want to keep an eye out for it * Spectator, *Books of the Year* * Vivid and knowledgeable… Caroline Moorehead has a profound understanding of Italy… This feels like the book she was destined to write — LUCY HUGHES-HALLETT, author of The Pike Sciascia is the noblest of Italian novelists, and in this magnificent and deeply affecting biography, Caroline Moorehead has given a full account of him, his people, his island, his tragic times — PHILIP HENSHER, author of A Small Revolution in Germany